Ask Obama About Don't
Ask, Don't Tell
Gay voters are
growing impatient for equality.
By RICHARD SOCARIDES,
OPINION, from the Web. January 25, 2010
As a candidate for president, Barack
Obama told the country's leading gay rights group, the Human Rights Campaign,
"America is ready to get rid of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. All that
is required is leadership." Now he is about to decide whether he will make
good on his promise to end what he called a "policy of discrimination."
His decision will come soon because Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen are set to testify
at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on the policy—the first of
its kind since the law was enacted in 1993.
Most administration observers who follow this closely believe that the Pentagon
has already signed off on supporting an end to Don't Ask, Don't Tell once the
White House decides the timing is right. But Messrs. Gates and Mullen have
yet to say so publicly. Their upcoming testimony is the result of pressure
from New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat, who last year called for
legislation that would have placed a moratorium on gay military discharges.
Many question why the White House avoided dealing with Don't Ask, Don't Tell
last year, when Democrats had big majorities in Congress and polls showed that a
majority of Americans favor changing the policy. A Quinnipiac poll in
April, for example, found that 56% of Americans support repealing the policy.
A big part of the reason why the White House hesitated is fear of a backlash
similar to the one suffered by President Bill Clinton in 1993 when he tried to
allow gays to serve openly in the military. Recently we saw the potential
beginning of an antigay fear campaign—much like the one in 1993 when then Sen.
Sam Nunn (D., Ga.) was leading the charge—in the form of a leaked memo from a
legal adviser to Mr. Mullen. The legal adviser opined that "now is not the
time" to lift the ban because of "the importance of winning the wars we are in."
Also, the New York Times reported recently that the Pentagon had begun
considering "the practical implications of a repeal—for example, whether it
would be necessary to change shower facilities and locker rooms because of
privacy concerns."
Fortunately, these scare tactics are for the most part relics of an older era.
People understand that our military needs every talented American it can get,
and that excluding gays from the military detracts from our ability to win wars.
Most people also understand that we are long past the point where our military
personnel need to be reminded about appropriate behavior on duty, regardless of
gender or sexual orientation. Men and women serve side by side today in
combat, as do gay and straight service members, without incident.
If repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell becomes impossible in the shifting
congressional dynamic this year (despite bipartisan support), the president has
several options that would stop the discharge of gay American soldiers.
Current law does not require the services to discharge members based on sexual
orientation per se. Rather, it looks to certain conduct to create a
presumption for discharge. Thus, the Department of Defense has the
authority to devise regulations that determine when such prohibited conduct has
occurred. Defense could also interpret the Don't Ask, Don't Tell statute
more literally (as intended) and refuse to discharge a service member unless he
willfully discloses that he is gay, which almost never happens. Finally,
Defense could invoke current regulations to retain gay service members in the
interest of national security. All are good options.
What is especially troubling, however, is Mr. Obama's oversensitivity to a
dwindling minority of bigots on this issue. Hundreds of military careers
have been destroyed on his watch for no valid reason. The country has been
deprived of the talents of these service members and has wasted millions of
dollars on their training.
Many wonder when their president will show the same kind of concern for the
constitutional rights of gay American service members as he has for enemy
combatants held at Guantanamo Bay. Many wonder what the administration's
willingness to treat gay Americans as second-class citizens says to Uganda and
other countries that are considering laws that would subject gays to
imprisonment and even death.
Gay Americans have been among the president's most ardent supporters.
Their enthusiasm, and that of their families and friends, could be crucial in
this year's elections. The president's action—or inaction—on Don't Ask
Don't Tell will be noticed.
An increasingly frustrated bloc of gay voters—angry over marriage setbacks in
California, Maine, New Jersey and New York and emboldened by Ted Olson's and
David Boies's high-profile effort to declare unconstitutional laws that prohibit
gay marriage—are growing impatient for equality. As Mr. Olson said in
federal district court in San Francisco recently, discriminatory laws serve only
to "label gay and lesbian persons as different, inferior, unequal and
disfavored."
Mr. Socarides, an attorney, was special assistant to President
Bill Clinton and senior White House adviser on gay rights from 1997 to 1999.
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